Hardly any help for injured and traumatized children in the Gaza Strip
According to a UN spokesperson, grief and sadness can be felt on every street corner in the largely war-torn Gaza Strip. James Elder, spokesman for the UN children's aid organization Unicef, reported devastating conditions. He spoke to reporters in Geneva from the city of Gaza. "It's even worse than I feared," he said. "Sorrow and sadness have taken root in Gaza."
Elder told of a boy who had lost both his parents and his twin brother in an attack. The boy spoke with his eyes tightly closed about what had happened to him. When asked why, a translator explained to him that the boy was very afraid of forgetting what his family looked like and kept his eyes closed to remember them.
A boy whose leg was torn off by a bomb took four days on a bus with his father to get to the south. The stump was infected. He also had shrapnel in his head and burns all over his body and still had to wait hours for help in hospital. Children with devastating wounds were lying in the parking lot in front of a hospital, where doctors tried to save their lives with few resources.
Babies with diarrhea for which there is no medication
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the need is far greater than health workers can cope with. There are babies in reception camps with diarrhea for which there is no medication. They are at risk of dying. Chronically ill people are no longer receiving their medication, for example for heart disease or other illnesses.
Since the ceasefire, the WHO and partners have brought more than 160 trucks of supplies to the Gaza Strip. These mainly included supplies to treat the many wounds, but also medicines. "It's just a trickle, the need is much greater," said a WHO spokeswoman in Geneva. WHO and Unicef demanded that Israel stop the bombing once and for all in order to be able to care for people. "We actually have the human instinct to protect children, but I wonder if we've lost that," said Elder.
- The ongoing conflicts in the Middle East, particularly the Gaza war, have led to widespread violations of human rights, with children being among the most affected.
- The devastating conditions in the Gaza Strip, resulting from the conflict, have led to a shortage of basic health services, including medications for children affected by diarrhea and for chronically ill individuals suffering from diseases like heart disease.
- The UN and WHO have expressed deep concern over the impact of the conflict on children's health in the Gaza Strip, with reports of children lying in hospital parking lots with devastating wounds and no access to adequate medical care.
Source: www.dpa.com
